Rare is the movie that can ride the line between scatological and sublime, absurdist and acute. The deeply weird “Sasquatch Sunset,” starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, is that movie.
A portrait of how a sasquatch tribe reacts to the encroaching modern world, it plays like “Quest for Fire” with poop jokes.
The movie follows a family of sasquatches – mythical human-like creatures played by Eisenberg, Keough, Nathan Zellner and Christophe Zajac-Denec – for a year as they navigate life deep in a Pacific Northwest forest.
It’s a slice-of-life look at them getting it on Bigfoot-style, foraging for food, throwing feces at crows as they eat the corpse of one of their friends, and making art out of twigs.
Oh, and there’s grunting. Lots of grunting. And a pooping montage.
Narrator-less and dialogue-free, the first part of “Sasquatch Sunset” feels like a nature documentary that focuses on Bigfoot mating and bathroom habits.
It wanders, seemingly pointlessly, and is sophomoric fun for a time, but just as the novelty of seeing movie stars draped in sasquatch pelts begins to wear thin, directors David and Nathan Zellner turn up the sincerity.
The modern world makes itself known when the family comes across a campsite.
A boom box blares the Erasure song “Love to Hate You” as the sasquatches learn the poignant message that they are not alone in the world.
From that point on, their lives become a confused quest for survival as they encounter things they cannot control.
If nothing else, “Sasquatch Sunset” is unfalteringly dedicated to its premise. It has more of a focus on feces than your average National Geographic doc, but Keough and Eisenberg dive in (Big)foot first, delivering what will surely be the strangest, but most committed performances of their careers.
You will believe a sasquatch can throw their poop. But will you care? Depends on your commitment to the premise.
It is both poignant and repugnant, ridiculous and genuine. It will not be for everyone.
The slow pacing and sheer audacity of the idea will separate the movie’s friends from foes, but even skeptics will have to admit that making and releasing a Bigfoot movie this odd in 2024 is no small feat.
Unratable.